The Elementals
by Rubishinju
Summary: This story was not written by me, but a friend of mine. I did edit it though, so you didn't have to suffer his abysmal grammar.
1. Chapter 1: The Beginning

**Chapter One: The Beginning**

My name is Riku or should I say R.J.? Oh, I don't know, but I'm writing this to make sure it's all real. I guess I should start at the beginning.  
My friends: Chris-Blond hair, blue eyes, and 5'8 not bad looking, but not that great either- he was kind of snobbish, Joy-Sandy blond hair, about 5'1, honey brown eyes, nice figure, but not like a cheerleaders; she was the type of person you could tell all your problems to, wasn't afraid to have fun her way (I would have preferred her to be my girlfriend, but she cant date till she's 16-she's 15 now- she says that she only sees me as a friend any way), Zach- Brown hair, brown eyes and fat, Rachel-cherry blond hair, hazel eyes, slim figure, about 5'5, and Joy's best friend, and I were walking through the woods near my house on a snow day; it was also my 16th B-day, some would call it coincidence, but I call it fate.   
Well, we found a path that was on a pretty steep hill, so I challenged Joy to a race.  
"I'll bet you can't catch me!" I said.  
"We'll see about that!" She replied, and we started to race down the hill with everybody chasing after us. I wasn't paying any attention, when all of a sudden, I hit something.  
"WWWWWAAAAAAAHHHH!" BAM! **Moan.**  
"R.J.! You OK?" Asked Chris.  
"Yah, I'm fine, but my sleds totaled. What did I hit and land on?" I asked in between agonizing movements to get up.  
"Whatever it is it must of hurt."  
"No DUH Beasley (Zach)! Uuugh, it feels like stone and-and there's something on here."  
"Yah and there's some more over here!" Said Joy  
"Let me see," said Rachel.  
We cleared off all of the snow and all- in -all it was about 2 yards straight in diameter.  
"It looks like a giant ritual circle," said Joy.  
"Yah, and the markings on this are really strange, too," said RJ.  
"Part of it got broken off from your collision," said Joy.  
"WOW! I wonder what this is used for!" Exclaimed Rachel in wonder.  
"Come on Chris, Beasly! Come take a look at this!" I shouted.  
They all got on it and then the symbols started to glow. There was a flash of light and-- "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Bam! "Uhg...what happened? Joy, Chris, Beasly, Rachel! Where are you guys?" I called. It was dark where I landed, so I couldn't see a thing.  
"We're all right here," responded Joy.  
"Joy is that you? Are you OK?" I questioned.  
"Yeah, but where are we?" She asked.  
"I can't see anything!" Said Rachel. (That is so like me!)  
"I think I see a light up ahead," I said.  
We made our way towards the light and stumbled out of the cave. Then, everyone gasped. I turned around and everybody was looking at me and then started to inspect them selves. Each of us had changed and had animal attributes. Joy had red hair, red pointed ears with some black on the tips and a red tale with white on the end, just like a fox and her eyes were green with a tint of gold as well. Her clothes had changed too, she was now wearing a Black tank-top with fire around the edges, her pants were loose black leather and a black cape with a dragon and a white tiger fighting on it and her shoes were leather boots but not the heavy type (not high-heel) and also on each hand were black silk fingerless gloves up to her elbows with leather on the palms and golden metal guards up just as far, on the right one was a tiger and on the left one was a dragon. Rachel had wings growing from her back, her hands now had nails that kind of looked like talons, and her hair was now long and brown and her eyes looked sharp and keen, like a hawk (she's part hawk). Her clothes had also changed, she was now wearing a loose white shirt, black leather pants (like Meg in Phantom of the Opera at the end) and black leather boots (like Joy's) going up to her knees. Then, there was Chris. He had gray hair and a tail, ears like Joy have, except his ears weren't as big and his eyes were that of a wolf. He was wearing a gray guy's kimono with a silver breastplate in the front with lightning on it and no shoes. Then, last, there was Beasly, and right off the bat you could tell that he was a gorilla. His whole body had changed! He was totally ripped now! His muscles were huge! All he had on was brown pants. Now the thing that really got me was that I couldn't see myself (me: no, really?), but I could tell that I had on a white guy's kimono and a silver breast plate with a yin-yang symbol on it and wooden Japanese- styled shoes. Everyone else said I kind of looked like Inuyasha with short hair. (He has long white hair, gold eyes, and ears on the top of his head) After a minute of silence, I suddenly realized a change in the smell of the air and there was a far off noise. The others seemed to notice it, too.  
"Someone's coming. We'd better hide," I said.  
With that, we all went and hid. Rachel and Beasly hid up in different trees, Chris and I in the bushes, and Joy behind a tree. Then, out of the thicket, a girl with codger ears, tail, long, blond hair in a high ponytail, and golden eyes came out. Then, I don't know what came over me, but it was like someone else had control and the last thing I remember is jumping out of the bushes growling and then- blank.  
A few hours later I came around. It took me a while to get my bearings, but once I did I realized that I was bound, gagged, and surrounded by guards. Then, the same girl from earlier and an old man that looked a lot like her. Once they noticed that I was awake, they took away the cloth in my mouth. I know it was stupid to ask, but I had to:  
"What happened?"  
"Don't play dumb!" Said codger-girl.  
"Honestly! I don't know what's going on anymore. Actually, I can't remember anything from the time I jumped out of the bushes."  
She then looked at me as if she wanted to make sure I was telling the truth.  
"I believe him," said the old man that looked like the girl.  
"Who are you? And more importantly, what did I do to end up like this?" I asked incredulously.  
"You tried to kill me!" Replied the girl, still pissed off.  
"I did what?"  
"Yah, and the only reason that we were able to tie you up was because of the fox girl."  
"Who? OH! You must mean Joy," I said, confused for a moment.  
"Yah, she jumped on your back to get you to stop and you said 'If you wanted me that much you should have just said so.' Then, she got mad and her hand got covered in fire; she jumped off your back and turned you around and punched you in the face while calling you a hentai (Pervert). You then flew into a tree and got knocked out."  
I just stared in shock.  
"It doesn't surprise me that you can't remember anything. Don't worry, I'll explain everything, but first, we must eat," said the old man.  
"Grandpa! You would let this mad man eat with the villagers?"  
"Don't worry, I'll explain everything soon enough," said the old man mysteriously.  
So we went and found the others and got something to eat. Joy and Rachel kept throwing me death glares. Kraden was the old man's name, it turned out, and he explained that a long time ago, six of the keepers of the balance of nature had disappeared here and the cave we came out of was where they had disappeared. He also said that they would come whenever there was an imbalance and they always appeared where they disappeared. "Which is why I have been sending Kit every day to check out the cave. The world here has fallen and needs to be reset. "  
"I thought you said that there were six – Wait, R.J., remember how your sled hit the stone and ruined the one of the marks?" said Joy  
I nodded.  
"Well maybe when that happened you got two powers and instead of one of them finding another body or make a fresh one it just went to live inside you!" She exclaimed with excitement at figuring it out first.  
I just stared at her. Kraden nodded his head.  
"That could very well be the reason because it was said that light and darkness (he's light and dark, btw) were basically the same person just two different bodies, but they could also fuse together. They were the most powerful of them all, but only when they were actually working together. And I'm sure the rest of you have figured out your elements." Said Kraden.  
Everyone nodded.  
"I have fire obviously," said Joy with a smirk on her face, obviously proud.  
"And I'm ice," stated Rachel with a smirk as well.  
"I'm earth most likely," said Beasly.  
"And I'm thunder, since for some weird, stupid reason there is no lightning," said Chris  
"Very good, and you each got another name as well, Joy yours is Mina, Rachel yours is Julia, Zach yours is Raiden, Chris is Kaine, and R.J. your Riku," said Kraden.  
"OK, so we have powers, but how do we use them?" I asked  
"With practice. DUH!" Said Julia  
"Yes, and we'll train you, but now, we need to get some sleep. Kit would you please show them to their new rooms," said Kraden  
"Yes grandfather," replied Kit.  
And so we went to our rooms and got ready for bed. After a few hours of tossing and turning, I went and sat on the roof of my one-room hut and just stared at the moon. After a while, I noticed Mina's scent in the air.  
"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" She asked.  
"Nope, there are just so many things that have happened and that I want to know, but I guess I shouldn't worry about it," I said, feeling pretty lame telling her this.  
"It's OK. We're all little freaked out about all of this. We're just all reacting differently," she replied.  
"You seem to taking it fine, not scared at all," I replied still feeling lame that the girl I liked was doing better than me.  
"That's because I've always wanted an adventure. And I've always been a loner at heart. All I need is some company and I'm fine, but I think that's why I'm fire, you can get close but you can't touch. You can be close to me, be one of my best friends and I won't confide in you. I wouldn't like it for others to get messed up in my business; it's annoying because they give me their opinion when all I'm asking for is to just be there for me to lean on," she shook her head. "We all have our problems and short comings, we just need to learn to accept them. "  
I stared at her. As she looked at the moon, its light tumbling around her making her look like she had described her self as, untouchable and it made me think about the time her mom had been in the hospital, she still acted as if nothing was wrong, just not quite as happy, but she never did talk to any of us and from what she's said probably not anyone in her family either. Then, she looked at me.  
"I was meaning to ask you, would you proffer it if I called you Riku? Or not?"  
"Sure, why not? Well, see you in the morning."  
"OK, night. And just so you know, you can talk to me about anything," Mina said with a small smile.  
"Thanks, you too."  
She nodded, and with that we both went to bed.

For the next few months we worked on training our bodies to handle our newfound power. This left us feeling tired and very easily frustrated.  
"This training will allow you to control your elemental energy," said Kraden  
Kaine was pissed that he couldn't use his power; he kept saying that training was a waste of time. Everyone was starting to get fed up with him. I even heard Mina, Julia, and Kit saying that they would tie him to a tree and gag him and let him get him self out since he says he's so powerful. Mina also would go off alone and come back hours later. I always wanted to ask her what she was doing, but never could find a chance.  
Kit became fast friends with Julia and Mina. You hardly saw one of them alone anymore.  
It finally came time to try out our powers.  
"Finally! Now let me show you all how it's done," said Kaine as he went to the front.  
"Fine then Kaine, stand on your symbol and start concentrating on making a ball of electricity," said Kraden.  
So he went and stood and started to concentrate. The girls started laughing after a few minutes because his face started to turn red from concentrating, but when he finally got something, it shot out in all directions and we all had to duck so that we wouldn't be hit.  
"See, I told you, it was easy," said Kaine.  
"Yes, but you have no control," stated Kraden  
"Only, because you wouldn't let me practice!" Shouted Kaine, and with that he stomped off.  
Next, was Raiden. He didn't have as much trouble as Kaine, but he still couldn't keep it up for long. Then, there was Julia; hers was a lot like Raiden's. Then, it was Mina's turn and it didn't take her long at all to get a fire ball as big as a basketball.  
"Very good, Mina! I see your practices have paid off," said Kraden with a smile.  
"Yes, they've helped a lot," replied Mina.  
"What practices?" Asked Julia.  
"On an episode of Avatar, Aang was learning how to fire bend and the person teaching him told him the first he needed to learn was control; so he gave Aang a leaf that was burning in the middle and told him to keep it burning as long as he could without burning the edges, but Aang was rash and thought that he didn't need training and because of that he burnt Katara's hands. So, because I didn't want that happening to any of you, I asked Kraden if I could try the leaf trick with my powers since we already know that I can create it."  
We all nodded our heads in understanding at what she had done. Now it was my turn.  
"So, what exactly should I do?" I asked Kraden.  
"Stand in the middle of the circle and concentrate on your energy and try to give it a form," he replied.  
Sounds easy, right? Not so much. I got to the point where I could give light a form, but then I felt this surge of pure energy that was colder then swallowing a whole carton of ice cream. I opened my eyes to see if anything had changed and there in front of me was an orb of dark energy. Upon opening my eyes I lost concentration and the orb disappeared.  
"This is interesting, you already have some control of your dark energy. Well, that's all for today. You're free to do as you wish."  
This was something we had all wanted for a long time. So, for the rest of the day we spent our time talking and practicing with our powers. Then, there was a far off shriek.  
"What was that?" I asked   
"Sounded like a little girl. We should go check it out," said Julia.  
"Yah! Lets hurry!" Said Mina.  
We all bolted in the direction of the scream. It didn't take us long to find what we were looking for. There in the clearing stood what looked like a cross between a tiger and a gorilla standing over an unconscious child. At first it hadn't noticed us, but that didn't take long. This thing was fast and in no time at all it was in front of us before we could even move. It raised a paw and knocked me straight across the clearing without any trouble. I now had a gash across my face that was definately going to leave a scar.  
"The only way to beat this thing is if we use our powers! Let's use what Kraden has taught us," I said.  
'Now things are going to get interesting,' I thought. But the thing was that we could all give our powers a physical form, but we didn't know how to attack. It wasn't too hard for Mina, having the most practice with her power and Kaine not being to hard to conjure and shoot even though he didn't have that much control was able to get a hit or two, along with Raiden. Even Julia got a hit or two in, but she was mainly taunting it, making it heavily distracted. I was the only one having a hard time. I couldn't stay hidden long enough to gather the energy I needed. Luckily, thanks to Julia's taunting and a shot from Mina I finally got the time I needed. I gathered as much energy as I could, aimed it at the beast, and released it. The shock not only destroyed the beast but knocked me down as well.  
"Snap! Now I guess it would not be a good idea to be on your bad side!" Said Mina, clearly amazed.  
"That was my power?" I stated in shock.  
"That was amazing," said Raiden  
Then, there were noises off in the woods. We got ready for another fight, but we picked up the villagers scent.  
"What happened here?" Asked one of them  
"Yah, it looks like a war was fought here," said another.  
"Basically, here's Jessica. She's just unconscious," said Mina (She got along with children well, so she was followed by most of the kids when ever they had the chance) and she handed the girl to the villagers.  
"Keepers are you alright!" Asked Kraden as he came into the clearing.  
"We'll survive," I said.  
"We were going to tell you that the barrier had a crack in it, but you guys were nowhere to be found. I thought we had talked about this. It's dangerous out here," said Kit ranting like a worried sister.  
"Yah, we kind of realized that. Now, let me ask the question that's on everyone's mind: what the hell was that thing?" Said Julia.  
"That was a driger; they get through the barrier sometimes. Lets return to the village," said Kraden.  
On the way back I learned that I could use my light energy to heal people, so I tried it out on the little girl. I channeled it through her, healing her completely. This day marked the day we all really tried our hardest to harness our power because we all knew that there were more powerful things out there then the driger. Even Kaine tried harder and didn't complain near as much. We learned at the end of our training eight months later that to reach our true potential that we would have to travel to our home nations and be trained by the native shaman. There was a land for each of us: Pyron, the land of fire, Tundria the land of ice, Thundria the land of thunder, Gia the land of earth, Lumos the land of light, and Umbra the land of shadow. Kraden also said that there were others; he didnt know how many, for all he knew there could be just one or fifty, but to keep a look out. By my 17th B-day we had all changed. I had grown taller, as had Kain; Raiden looked more like a man than a boy now; Julia's hair went to her butt, but she wore it in a braid, so no one could tell that she was a she at first glance, and Minas hair had also grown out to her butt, but she kept it in a braid also and behind her cape. Kit was our guide and so we set out for Pyron the land of fire. As a parting gift we were all given cloaks; mine was white and black with long sleeves, Mina's was black with fire on the edges with no sleeves, Julia's was just a dark blue cape and hood, Kaine's was like mine only gray, and Kit's was like Julia's only it was pink, and Beasly got a brown one like Kaine's and I.


	2. Chapter 2: The Land of Flame

Chapter 2: Into the Land of Flame 

It didn't take long to get to the border of the Land of Flame, and we were all curious to see what this place would be like. It was the exact opposite of what I had imagined. This place was beautiful; not like the barren wasteland that I had envisioned. There were beautiful apple orchards and open fields full of flowers. "This place is unbelievable," I said.  
"It really is beautiful, isn't it?" Asked Kit in complete awe.  
"This is really something else," stated Julia.  
"Hey, what's that?" Mina inquired. It was a plume of black smoke coming from not too far away.  
"Let's go, maybe we can help," I said. We took off in the direction of the smoke and when we arrived, we found an inn that was about to burn to the ground. There was a man just standing there, watching the conflagration. One of us spoke up.  
"Sir, is there anything we can do to help?" Julia asked.  
"No, just stay out of the way. We don't want anybody to get hurt," growled the old man. The fire was starting to get out of control and I wasn't just going to stand there and let this inn go down in flames. I grabbed a bucket and started hauling water from a nearby stream. Everyone got into it and the fire was put out in no time.  
"Why didn't you just let me use my power?" Asked Julia incredulously.  
"We don't need to draw attention to ourselves just yet," I replied.  
"I thought I told you to stay back," hissed the bystander.  
"Just be grateful the fire's out," Julia snapped back. The man just stalked away and an old woman approached us.  
"Thank you all for helping save my inn. I wish I could find some way to repay you," said the innkeeper appreciatively.  
"Don't worry; we were glad to help," said Mina kindly.  
"Still you look like you have a long way to go, at least let me give you some horses," the old woman offered.  
"Thank you for your kindness, ma'am, it is much appreciated," I said. After that, we were on our way. It only took us about three weeks to get to the capital city: Helios. It's a magnificent city. There were hundreds of shops and venues. This place was unbelievable, but with so many people, it was going to be hard not to expose ourselves.  
"So Kit, where do we begin?" Asked Raiden.  
"We should probably start with finding the temple and getting the shaman to train Mina," suggested Kit.  
That was the easy part. When we found the shaman, we learned of a rebellion against the royal dictatorship. When we heard of this, we were glad to join the resistance while Mina trained. Then, finally we were able to get into the palace.  
"This will be the biggest battle the resistance has seen yet, but we are ready and we will win." We set out to claim the castle and the ruler Magmus. The fight against the guards wasn't that hard, but getting a hold of Magmus was a job in its own. This fight was difficult. Magmus could fight with the best of them. He took out Raiden and I like we were nothing. Then, he got Kaine and Julia. The only one left was Mina. The next thing I knew there was a sword at Julia's neck. This obviously pissed Mina off because then, something incredible happened.  
"IF YOU TOUCH HER, I WILL DESTROY YOU!" Mina shouted.  
"You don't stand a chance against me," said Magmus with a sardonic grin. Then, he swung the sword at Julia. I thought she was going to die, but then:  
"GOD DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS FLAME!" Mina cried.  
"What in the hell was that?" Magmus looked anxious now.  
"I WARNED YOU; DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS STRIKE!" Then, I passed out, but from what I have heard she created a flame attack that destroyed the palace. While I was unconscious, I had the weirdest dream:  
"Where am I?" I asked.  
"You are inside of our head," a voice replied.  
"What?"   
"I am your darkness, your shadow," a male figure stepped out of the shadows that looked exactly like me, except he had black hair.  
"So you're the physical embodiment of the dark power?" I questioned, cottoning on.  
"Yes. It is time for the ceremony," Shadow (that's his name) said mysteriously.  
"The what?" I was confused now.  
"You'll see," he replied vaguely.  
Then, I woke up and was told to go to the temple. When I got there, an odd ceremony was taking place, kind of like the thing that brought us to this world. The ritual unleashed some of the true extent of Mina's power.  
"Now that the beacon of flame is lit, we can move on," said Kit. Mina's appearance changed after the ritual as well. Now she had white ears, a white tail, and white hair. Next stop, Tundria, the Land of Ice."


	3. Chapter 3: The Ancient of Wind

CH3 The Ancient of Wind

It's been about two weeks since we activated the beacon at Helios, but we were making good time. Right now we were making our way to the town of River Port. This is where we would find a boat to take us to the Tundrian islands. The main land is only a province of Tundria. The capital is on Avalanche Island; to get there we would have to go through a chain of smaller islands known as the Deep Freeze islands. In the best-case scenario we could get there in about a month, but the likely hood of that was pretty low. At the moment we were in the small mining town of Youswell.

"Thank you for letting us stay at your inn for free," said Julia.

"No problem, you guys saved my son from that rock slide," the innkeeper said.

"It was no problem those rocks were nothing," said Raiden.

"Thanks again and come back sometime," the innkeeper said.

"We'll try, but our travels may not permit it," I said.

"That was a nice place; I wish we could come back," Mina said.

"We just might, but for now we need to focus on getting to River Port and finding a boat," Kit replied.

"Kit is right; we need to get going," I said.

"It's about time we left; I was getting sick of this place anyway," huffed Kaine. (And they say I'm like Inu-yasha, talk about an attitude problem.)

"Can't you just enjoy yourself for once!" Snapped Julia.

"How can I when I can't use my powers!" He exclaimed indignantly.

"You know that it's for you're own good. It's like Kraden said…" I tried to calm him down.

"I don't care what that old codger said," Kaine replied rudely.

"Don't you ever disrespect my grandfather again!" Kit shouted. Then, Kaine just snapped and hit Kit clear across the face.

"Shut up," he shouted.

Mina's eyes started to glow red and before anyone could blink, she punched Kaine in the face and through two trees and pinned him by his neck to the third, where he was frantically trying to pry them open, oblivious to the blood dripping from his nose. "I'm sick and tired of your attitude and so is everyone else! That was over the line and if you ever do that again I won't hesitate to break your spine!" Mina spat angrily. (She could never kill anyone willingly.)

"KAINE THAT'S ENOUGH!" I hollered. Mina dropped Kaine and stood next to Julia, who looked like she was having a hard time not doing the same thing, but being the keeper of ice, she has the most control over her emotions. We spent the rest of the day in silence. We got to River Port by dark and found an inn for the night. The next day we set out early to find a boat, which didn't take long.

" Hello there, you don't look like you're from around here," said a good-looking man with black hair, blue eyes, and eagle wings wearing an expensive sailing outfit.

"That's right, we're traveling to the Tundrian capital. Could you, by any chance, take us there?"

-in the background-

"He is so hot!" Whispered Kit.

"I know, and he looks just like Daniel Radcliffe!" Julia whispered back. "Makes you wonder if there's a guy that looks like Tom Felton here."

"If there is, then he's mine! You know I just love boys with blonde hair and tight abs!" Exclaimed Kit quietly.

(Mina told me this later)

-end of background-

"That I can do, my name is Aveon, welcome aboard, but we will have to stop for supplies at Atmos Island, OK?" Aveon said.

"That's fine, so when can we leave?" I asked.

"Now if you want to," Aveon replied.

"Great, then let's go," I said.

"Oh, by the way, before we head off, I want to know your names," said Aveon. He pointed to each of the group in turn until he got to Mina and Julia. (Mind you, they both look like guys right now) "And you two gents are?"

-Julia's thoughts: Let me sock. Please let me sock him. Ohhhhhh, he is so hot! Wait, I can't be thinking that; he just called me a guy! Hotness! Sock him! Oh no, I'm going crazy!

-Mina's thoughts: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! I can't believe he just called me a guy! If I'm a guy, that means Riku is gay! AAAAHH! THAT WOULD BE SO FREAKISH!

I could see Julia's and Mina's fuses were running short, but then they shared identical evil smirks and said in deep voices, unlike their own: "I'm Julia" and "I'm Mina."

"Those are kind of feminine names for a guy aren't they?" Questioned Aveon.

The girls burst out laughing and Julia said in between gasps for breath: "Well, they would be if we were guys."

"Oh, so you're cross-dressers," joked Aveon.

"Yes, and Riku is gay," said Mina, earning a glance from the person mentioned.

"No, wait, that's Kaine!" Exclaimed Julia, making smoke come out of Kaine's ears. This threw Julia and Mina into their own little bubble of girl squabble.

So we started on our way. It took us a while to get to the waters controlled by the Atmos Kingdom and not long after pirates attacked us. The battle was pretty short; the others had given me enough time to mount an attack of my own and after that we were the only things in the water besides the fish.

"You guys have some explaining to do," demanded Aveon.

"Yah, well, we're from another world and we're the legendary Ancients. Well, except Kit, that is," said Raiden.

"Well, I guess it's only fair if I tell you the truth about me as well. I'm also an Ancient, the controller of wind, and the adopted son of the King of Atmos. I first came here when I was five, but I've been going back and forth between worlds."

"AAAAHHHHHH! You're Daniel Radcliffe in the other world, aren't you?" Mina shouted as she pointed at Aveon. We all just stared at her like she was nuts.

"As a matter of fact, I am," Aveon replied.

Julia, who was next to Mina, and Mina looked at each other and went: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WE'RE MEETING DANIEL RADCLIFFE!" Then, they blushed and everyone laughed.

When we reached the island the next day, we got a royal welcome and were lead straight to the palace. We met the king and Aveon's brother, Gale. He seemed to fancy Julia and got jealous whenever Aveon was around her and talking with her. (Aveon and Julia got along especially well and Mina told me later the Aveon was flirting with her- her being Julia)

We were all presented with gifts, but the ones everyone seemed to like the most was the custom-made weapons that the blacksmith gave each of us. I got a medieval version of Darth Maul's light saber, Kaine got a spear, Raiden got a giant hammer, Julia got a bow and arrow set, and Mina got two katanas and a dagger.

After a week we told the king that we had to leave after we lit the beacon here and that Aveon was coming with us. So we left, but when we got there Gale was waiting for us.

"And just where are you going brother dear," Gale said in a sadistic tone.

" We are going to light the beacon and then leave for Tundria," replied Aveon, a little on edge.

" Not anymore you're not! You don't deserve any honor you little fool! You always get everything you want, but not anymore!" Shouted Gale.

"Gale, don't do this," begged Aveon. Gale was on the attack and so we fought back. He wasn't that hard to bring down, but he did manage to get everyone's attention when he pinned Julia to the wall and tried to stick his tongue down her throat. That really pissed Aveon off because then he brought out his semi-god form and released his Judgment Hurricane. We lit the beacon and left after Mina incinerated the body.

Later that night on Aveon's boat, I went to check on Julia to make sure she was all right and overheard and conversation between Mina and Julia.

-Mina and Julia's conversation-

"He so likes you!" Exclaimed Mina.

"Yah right!" Was Julia's reply.

"No, seriously! And you like him too, don't you?" Inquired Mina.

"I do not!" Julia denied indignantly.

"Then, why are you blushing?" Asked Mina.

"Oh fine, I guess I do kinda like him, but if you tell anyone, I shall cause you extreme pain," joked Julia.

"I'd rather stick pins in my eyes!" Said Mina. (that's from High School Musical!)

-end of what I hear-

I left figuring all was well and knowing I had blackmail for Julia.


	4. Chapter 4: The Land of Ice and Thunder

CH4: Separation  
Powers Unleashed   
It would take about one month to get to Avalanche Island. With Aveon at the helm things went smoothly. The Tundrian peninsula was a cold, but very beautiful place. The way the snow glistened every morning was incredible.  
" This place is unbelievably beautiful. Julia, you must feel right at home," said Mina.   
"Yeah, she probably does," said Riku.  
"Wahhhh! Where did you come from?" Her ears and nose were frozen, so her senses were off.  
"I've been here for a while."  
"Where is Julia?" Mina asked.  
"She flew off earlier to take a look around."  
"I wish I could fly."  
"Why? It would make you an easier to see target."  
"Really? Oh well. Why do you like being stuck on the ground."  
" Down here I can move faster and am more agile," I responded.  
" I guess that's a plus."  
"Hey guys. What's up?" Asked Julia, hovering over them.  
"Besides you, nothing," joked Riku.  
"Ha, ha, very funny," said Julia sarcastically.  
"So what did you see?" I inquired.  
"Same old, same old. Don't get me wrong I love this place, but I can't wait to get off this boat."  
"Well technically..."   
"Riku shut up," Julia said irritably.  
"What?"   
"Hey guys, it looks like we'll be arriving at the port in a few hours, so go ahead and get you're stuff together," Aveon called from the helm.  
"Finally, I hate sailing," said Raiden, looking at the sea in disgust.  
"I know what you mean," Kit agreed.  
" I think that we are all a little restless. You know what I think? That for once, we'll let them know that we're coming," I said.  
" Are you serious? We can show off for once?" Exclaimed Kaine.  
" Don't get carried away, Kaine. Remember, we can't completely control our powers," I warned.  
" That's fine," said Kaine quickly.  
"Hey, can you speed this up thing up Aveon?"  
" Do you really want me to -----?"  
(All)" YES"   
"Fine."  
Then, Aveon used his power of wind to speed up the boat. When we arrived, we were greeted by a festival and led straight to the palace. There we would party for almost the rest of the day. We spent about two weeks just making public appearances while Julia trained. I was beginning to get uncomfortable, so one day I got my cloak and went exploring. While in the lower class area, I met a child that was injured and about to die. When I found out why he was so ill, I had to use my power to help the poor boy. Then, later on, when I was meditating, Shadow decided to pop in.  
'So why did you help him?' Shadow asked.  
'You really don't have a soul do you?'  
'I have a soul, but remember I embody you're darkest and most secret emotions. To me compassion is pointless.'   
'Why doesn't that surprise me? Oh yeah, something I have been meaning to ask you, do you sense any bad omens for the lighting of the beacon tomorrow?' (Why is he asking this? It's not as if Julia is going to pull a stunt like Gale.)  
'No,' Shadow answered.   
'Good. Well, I guess we should get some sleep.'  
'Good night, Riku,' said Shadow sarcastically.  
'You, too.'  
"Mamma...uhhhh, oh, it's morning already, I guess I should get down to the main hall," I said to myself. I got up and headed towards where the others were meeting up.  
"Oh, morning Riku," greeted Mina.  
"Morning Mina... Oh, and Shadow says good morning as well."  
" Do you ever get tired of having him in you're head?" She asked curiously.  
"Yeah, it does get pretty annoying some times, but I've learned to live with it."  
Our conversation carried on for a while. After breakfast, we had one last appearance to make before we would light the beacon. The last day of the festival in our honor was pretty standard.  
"Hey guys, we should probably go ahead and light the beacon," I suggested. Everybody agreed, and we left the festival. After we left, the festival calmed down a bit. The beacon lighting ceremony was pretty standard, except that Julia's appearance was altered all most completely; she now had white wings, silvery-blonde hair, and icy blue eyes that I found particularly creepy. After we performed the ceremony, we all got tired from the massive use of our powers. We rested for a few hours then we set out for Thundria.  
It took about two weeks to get from Avalanche Island to the Thundrian capital of Sparks.  
"Thundria, finally, a place that I can really show off," said Kaine pompously.  
'I've got a bad feeling about this,' I thought to myself.  
'I sense it too, but we have more important things to do, like prepare to enter Sparks,' Shadow responded.  
Shadow was right; we had arrived. The city was rather extravagant. Kaine was having a blast with all the attention. Not too long after we had arrived, we were led to the town square to meet the king and the rest of the royal court.  
" Welcome Keepers, to our humble land (Psssh! Yah right!). Stay as long as you like," the king said regally.  
"That is very generous of you, but we really don't have time to stay very long," I replied nervously.   
" What are you talking about, Riku? We have plenty of time," Kaine said.  
" We really don't have the time, Kaine. It's a long trip to our next destination, and we need to get going soon," I said with an sharp edge in my voice.  
" You, how dare you defy the great Kaine!" The king roared.  
Then, this guard knocks me down and points his spear at my neck.  
" It's alright, he's always like this. We've all gotten used to it, don't worry," Kaine said. The others were just glaring at him. Julia looked as if she were about to bore holes into his skull and I'm sure she wouldn't hesitate to do so.  
"Very well, my lord," the king said and the guard withdrew.  
The entire time this is going on, I'm just trying to keep Shadow under control. The rest of our time in the city was rather un-enjoyable. By the end of the week, Kaine didn't have a choice, we were lighting that beacon and getting the hell out of here.  
"Why should I light this thing?" Kaine asked indignantly.  
"You know why. It's our duty to complete the balance and restore order," I said.  
"Like I care about our duty?"  
"Don't you want to get home?" Asked Raiden.  
" No! I never want to leave this place!" Kaine exclaimed.  
Then, it happened, some how without the ceremony, we had lit the beacon.  
"What happened?" Mina asked.  
"THIS POWER! IT'S UNBELIEVABLE! NOW NO ONE CAN STOP ME!" Cried Kaine.  
" His body, everything about him has been nearly tripled. He really is unstoppable," I said with defeat.  
"That may be, but we can still try," said Mina.  
Mina was right; we had to try, and we did, for hours we fought Kaine. Making little to no progress. Slowly but surely we tired out and were picked off. With Raiden and Aveon unconscious, Mina and Julia had a hard time. He caught Mina off guard from behind and took her out easily. Julia was hard to hit because she could fly, but that didn't stop Kain. She too, went down, but she went down with a fight. That only left me... this was the hardest fight of my life. Even with my sword Mastery and power over light and darkness I stood no chance. Then, he did something that would change all of our lives forever. He grabbed Mina and commenced to try and crush her skull. In seeing this, I lost it. I let my power go unchecked and the result was unbelievable. My power and Shadow's became perfectly in sync, then, we released our ultimate power.   
"LUNAR KATASTROPHY!" I shouted.  
Then nothing; I had blacked out. It would be more than six weeks before I would wake up. Mina told me that since the fight in Sparks, we had landed in the Earth kingdom of Gia. Shadow has a body and it is very badly injured, but it wasn't from the fight. It turns out that Shadow is a lot like Miroku. He just can't keep his hands to himself. It would be another week before I was strong enough to walk, but after that my strength came back much quicker than we thought. We decided to wait in the earth capital for the others.  
What's next? We'll find out.


	5. Chapter 5: The Reunion

CH5 Reunion

It's been only three days since Mina, Shadow, and I entered the small trade town of Hyrule. It wasn't hard to find work even for me. Besides that, it paid well and was fairly easy. The people here are very easy to get along with. The local innkeeper has offered to let us stay with him if we help with the daily chores. We basically do odd jobs around the town like running errands and helping chop firewood. We were eventually given apprentice ships. Shadow's was with the black smith where he learned to make weapons like the ones that we all have, just in case we need them. I went with the captain of the town guard, Dalton, to learn how to fight hand –to- hand and the finer techniques of sword- play, and Mina went with the healer to learn medical arts. In my free time I would teach Mina what I had learned from Dalton since the whole female stereo type thing still exists in this place. Then, once every week we all would find a nice clearing and train for hours: fighting hand- to- hand, as well as using our powers. By the end of the day, we were exhausted. This routine continued for a long time. Months passed and I soon realized that coming up at weeks end was Mina's birthday. I had to do something special, but what? Then, suddenly a problem arose.

"Riku, it's horrible, the village was just raided and the bandits made off with the chief. They are demanding all of the valuables in the village or the chief dies. What should we do?" Asked one of the guards.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," I replied.

"But how will you do that?" The man inquired.

"Don't worry about that. Just tell me which way they went," I said tensely.

He pointed me in the direction and with Mina and Shadow's help we tracked down the bandits and took care of the five of them. This little trip left me with only about two days to get Mina a gift and with the money I was making it would have been lame, but Shadow actually helped me get her a great gift.

The night of our little celebration I went to Mina and gave her the gold necklace that Shadow helped me get.

"Mina?" I said nervously.

"Yes Riku, what is it?"

"There is some thing that I wanted to tell you," I said fidgeting.

"Yeah what is it?" Mina said, looking at me with concern.

"I don't really know how to say this so I'm going to be straight forward with this… I love you," I blurted out.

"What?" She was shocked.

"You heard me, I love you, I love being with you. As long as you're around I feel like I belong. I can tell you anything and you're always honest with me. I can't find anything about you that I don't like. I… I don't think that I could bear to lose you and that is why I unleashed all that power against Kaine."

"I don't know what to say I -----."

Right about now, Shadow stepped in and pushed me into Mina. Because of this we ended up kissing. It was the most wonderful 10 seconds of my life. Later on, I would find out how Mina felt, but at the moment something more important was happening. The villagers said that people calling themselves keepers had come into town. I had to go see this. It turns out that it was Julia, Raiden, Kit, and Aveon. We all went back to the inn and talked. I saw Mina and Julia walk off and followed them. In doing this I over heard their conversation. They walked up the stairs and into Mina's room. I crouched by the door hoping to hear what they were talking about. Julia spoke up first.

"So, what did I miss while you were here with Twiddle-Dee and Twiddle-Dum?" She asked, referring to Shadow and I.

"A lot, let me tell ya. You'll never guess what Riku did today, on my birthday no less," Mina responded.

"What did he do? Or do I not want to know?" There was an edge to Julia's voice that I didn't like. She wouldn't hesitate to beat the crap out of me.

"He kissed me," said Mina.

"He did what!" Julia exclaimed.

"You heard me. He kissed me," Mina said.

"I bet he loved that," said Julia sardonically. "What about you? How do you feel about it?"

"I didn't like it. I want my first kiss to be with someone that I'm attracted to. I only see Riku as a friend and nothing more," Mina replied. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing as exciting as that. At first it was Aveon and I traveling to Gia, then we met up with Raiden and Kit. They did look cozy together, though, Raiden and Kit, I mean. That's pretty much it. I'll tell you about in detail later. I'm going to bed; it's been a long day. Oh, happy birthday, Mina. Good night." That's where the conversation ended. Julia opened the door and closed it. At first I thought she wouldn't notice Shadow and I there, but I knew better than that. She glanced at me and then her eyes landed on Shadow. Her gaze was cool as she looked at him for the first time. There wasn't much difference between Shadow and I, except he had intimidating black eyes, black hair, and different clothes, but the eyes didn't throw Julia off. Her eyes were just as foreboding as his; they cut into him, as if staring into his soul. I could tell she didn't like what she saw. "Is there a reason you're crouching by Mina's door? Or is this a new style of meditation?"

"Um…uh…" was all I could say.

"Let me answer for you. You were eavesdropping. Am I correct?"

I nodded, too ashamed of being caught in the act. Then, I thought of something: a way to win Mina over. All I needed to do was play my cards right. "Can I talk to you?" I asked, regaining my confidence. Julia merely nodded and then led the way to her room.

She let me inside, she told Shadow to keep away from her (he's outside the room), and then closed the door.

"What was it you wanted to talk about with me?" She inquired, sitting down on a chair and crossing her legs. (Her wings are gone for now; she knows how to make them disappear)

"Um… it's about Mina. Well, you how I feel about her, right?"

Julia nodded curtly, signaling me to continue.

"Well, I want to win her over, but so far that hasn't really worked out. I was hoping, maybe, you could help me."

"No."

"That's it? You won't even consider it?" I asked.

"That's it. I won't do that to Mina, she's my best friend. And besides, you know full and well how she feels about you."

"Well, then, the only I can get your help now is to force you," I said, hoping to scare her.

"How, exactly, are you going to do that?" There was a smirk tugging at her lip.

"Two words: black mail." She cocked an eyebrow. "I have something that you don't want a certain someone to know." Her eyes went wide. I smiled inside; I had her right where I wanted her, or so I thought. "Perhaps I should elaborate. I know how you feel about Aveon and I won't hesitate to tell him."

"You wouldn't," she said, looking fearful.

"Oh, I would, but only if you don't help me," I said, hoping she would take the bait.

"No," she was smiling now.

"Excuse me?"

"No, go ahead. Tell Aveon how I feel, I don't mind, but be warned he'll probably tell you that's ancient news to him. You see, Aveon and I are happily in love, you're just to dense to notice." I just stared dumbfounded. All this time, she was merely pretending to go along with it and then BAM! It all crumbled before my eyes. Now I knew not to underestimate her acting skills.

"You do realize, of course, that he won't be able to come with us to our world, don't you?" I asked, completely forgetting he was from the same world as us.

"What did you say?" She growled, menace in her voice.

"You heard good and well what I said," acting more bravely then I felt. I could feel the air in the room grow cold and knew she was not happy with me right now. The wisest thing to do would be to make for the door, but that didn't cross my mind until after she handed my ass to me. I made my way out the door ten minutes later, bruised, cut, and partly frozen; I never wanted to get on Julia's bad side again. Shadow just about died from laughter when I came out of that room. I told him to shut up and made my way to my own room, hoping against all hopes that I would feel better tomorrow. Today was eventful, to say the least.


	6. Chapter 6: Julia and Aveon

A/N: This chapter I wrote myself. Sorry ahead of time if you think it's too sappy, but I'm a romantic at heart. This is what really happened to Julia. Enjoy.

Julia and Aveon

Julia woke up sore and her head pounding. She opened her eyes and saw that she wasn't in Thundria anymore. "Wow, Riku must have done something," she said to herself, "Or I'm dead and Kaine killed us all. I may never find out." Julia looked more closely at her surroundings and saw she wasn't alone. Aveon was lying on the ground unconscious. She rushed over to him. "Aveon, wake up! Please wake up!" She took his hands in hers and brought them to her face. "Please wake up," she said quietly, tears falling down her face. "I can't lose you. I think I love you." She dropped his hand, closed her eyes, and let the tears fall.

Suddenly, Julia felt a hand on her cheek, wiping her tears away with the pad of his thumb. "Please don't cry, angel of mine," he said weakly. Aveon slowly sat up and then, Julia threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. Aveon was caught by surprise at first and then returned the hug cherishing this precious moment.

"I was so afraid that I'd lost you," she sobbed into his chest. Aveon ran his hand through her beautiful, silky hair.

"I know, I heard you." Julia pulled away, her eyes widened in shock.

"Y-you heard?" She stuttered.

"Every word," Aveon replied.

"And how do you feel about- about what I said?" She asked so softly he could barely hear her. Aveon ran his fingers over her cuts. There was one on her lower lip and one on her cheek. Julia pushed his hand away. "Please answer the question," she whispered, fresh tears falling.

"I feel the same way," answered Aveon and with that he kissed Julia. Their kiss was loving and tender then, it grew passionate. Aveon wrapped his arms around her waist, while Julia ran her fingers through his hair. Everything just seemed to melt away. Julia pulled away after what seemed like forever. After taking a look at what she had done to his hair, she burst out laughing. "So that's how it's going to be, huh?" Aveon started tickling her, making her laugh even harder.

"Stop! Please! Mercy! Ow! My sides hurt! Please, stop!" Aveon stopped just as she requested. An abrupt change seemed to have overcome Julia. She now looked thoughtful and sad. "I've just thought of something. What are we going to do? We can't stay here forever."

"We should probably head to Gia. That's where we were traveling to anyway."

"Yeah, I guess your right. I wonder what happened to the others, though."

"Me too, but for now we should just stay here; just for the night." Julia agreed and the rest of the day they spent gathering kindle and hunting for food. They ate their dinner quietly and stayed up a couple more hours just talking near the warm fire. After a while, Aveon lay down and Julia went to a nearby stream to get a drink of water. When she came back, she asked something completely unexpected.

"Can I sleep with you?" Even in the darkness Aveon could see her blush. "I mean, not in that way, but you know-"

"Of course." With that, she lay down and rested her head on his chest while he ran his fingers through her silky hair. "Julia?"

"Hmmm?" She looked up.

"There's something I want to ask you."

"What?" Concern was evident in her eyes.

"Uh... um... will you be my girlfriend?"

Julia grinned from ear-to-ear. "Yes."

"Good, 'cause now I can do this." He lifted her chin up and planted the most mind-blowing kiss imaginable. It literally took her breath away. They pulled away for breath and just stared at each other.

Julia cocked her head to the side smirking, "I don't know about you, but I'm tired." She laid her head back on his chest and within minutes they were both asleep.

The next morning they took off. Since both had wings they flew, covering twice the distance, but it was still very, very far to Gia.

Several months of flying later, the journey was getting wearisome, but their bond was closer than ever. Aveon and Julia truly were in love. During one day of flying, Julia spotted two people walking below and dove to land. Aveon followed, hot on her tail.

It turned out the two people were Raiden and Kit. Julia was ecstatic to see Kit. Even though she enjoyed being with Aveon she was desperate for some female company.

"KIT!" Julia exclaimed, practically tackling her to the ground. "It's so good to see you." She pulled away. "You too, Raiden." At that moment, Aveon knew what he had to do. He was going to propose to Julia. He knew they were both young, but why wait. He was in love. He loved everything about her, especially when she was beaming like this, which is a rare thing (she acts cold and keeps things to herself, like her element). He started fingering the ring in his pocket. After they were done catching up, they decided to set off.

"We'll have to go on foot, since neither Kit nor Raiden can fly," stated Julia. Aveon seemed to be distracted. "Aveon? Are you all right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I agree. We should go on foot and get going, like, right now," and with that they headed toward Gia once more.

After a couple of hours of hiking, they decided to call it a day and set up camp. When that was done, Aveon ventured out to find the perfect spot to propose to Julia. It took a while, but eventually he found just the place. He got back to the campsite just before the sun set.

"Julia?" She looked over from where she was talking to Kit and Raiden. "Could you come with me for a moment?" She looked hesitant, but followed nonetheless. Aveon led the way and when they were getting close he had her close her eyes. Then, he led her to the clearing he had found earlier. "Now, open your eyes." She did and gasped at what she saw. He had brought her to a magnificent waterfall with a sparkling clear pool and trees blooming with beautiful flowers. Aveon picked off a white lily and put it in her hair.

"This place is beautiful," Julia whispered, still amazed.

"I know something even more beautiful than all of this," said Aveon, suddenly not so nervous anymore.

"What?" She asked, turning to face him so the sun hit her in just the right way, making her look like an angel. She smiled at him.

"You," he replied simply. Julia blushed. "And I would be the happiest man alive if," he got down on one knee while her eyes widened, " you would be my wife." He took out the ring box and opened it.

Julia got down on her knees as well and took the ring and slid it on her finger. "Yes Aveon," she said, beaming like a crazy woman, "I will marry you."

"Really?" She nodded. "YES!" He jumped up and scooped her up, spinning her around, her laughter pealing out through the forest. "You truly have made me the happiest man alive," he said, putting her down and drawing her in for a long, passionate kiss.

After they pulled away, they decided to get back to the campsite since it was starting to get dark. When they got there, Kit and Raiden were already sleeping so they turned in for the night, too.

They had been on foot for a month and now, finally, they had reached Gia. They announced themselves as the keepers and soon enough Riku and Mina came running up to them.


	7. Chapter 7: The Mineral City

CH6: MINERAL CITY

It happened again last night, that horrible dream. At least this time I didn't sleepwalk, but the dream keeps getting more and more vivid each night. This feeling of guilt that I get each time I wake up is unbearable. Knowing that my friends will die because of me is enough to make me want to run away and leave them, but I can't do that, they need me to light the beacons and get home. But still, the thought that I kill all of them is unnerving. I try my best to relax around them, but I just can't do this. I'm losing my mind over this and there is nothing I can do about it. I had hoped being in the Mineral city (capitol of the earth kingdom) would help, but it hasn't helped at all. At least, it hasn't helped me. The others are having a ball. Even Shadow is enjoying himself, which is a real surprise. I guess I had better get down to the hall for breakfast so that the others don't worry. I was still a little sore after what Julia did to me last night before I went to sleep, but just ignored the pain.

"So, you're still here?" Said Shadow as I walked down the hall.

"Yes, I'm still here, Shadow. You don't have to worry about getting lonely. I've already told you I'm going to stay until the dream comes true," I answered in a rough tone.

"Well geeze, you don't have to get snippy about it, I was just wondering. So why don't you just kill them all now and get it over with?" He asked bluntly.

"I'll tell you why not, because they are my friends and I would never hurt them," I replied.

"But you do hurt them in the end, so it would only make sense not to draw out the inevitable," he stated. But I only got the first part because I was already heading down for breakfast and really didn't care to finish the conversation. After breakfast we all headed to the town plaza to have some fun. The girls went to see a street magician and ended up getting hypnotized as a part of his act. We all thought that the sight of them walking around like a couple of chickens was pretty funny, but they got us back for it in the market when they went shopping. When the evening rolled around the girls went to go and soak in the hot springs, we decided to go and spy on them. This however didn't work out because the tree branch that I was standing on broke and I fell in. The girls eventually got back at the others but I got clawed, fried, and frozen on the spot, again! I'M STILL SORE! But I'll live.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" I asked

"Until I believe you. I mean honestly I never thought that you would do something like that," Mina yelled. Kit was restraining Julia, but I could tell she wanted to beat the everlasting crap out of all of us.

"Like I said before, I'm sorry, but the sight of you in the light of the full moon that was something I just couldn't pass up."

"You pervert!" Then she slapped me and left. _That went well, I guess, but she is still never going to forgive me. I guess I should probably try to get some sleep, but then there is that damned dream. What am I going to do?_ And with that thought, I fell asleep. I had the same dream and woke up in a cold sweat again. That day was pretty quiet considering the circumstances. We activated the beacon and left but I still wasn't ready for what would happen at our next destination. Next stop, Lumos, the land of light.


	8. Chapter 8: The Land of Light

Ch 7: Land of Light and Darkness

It didn't take us long to get from the earth nation to Lumos. But when we arrived we were in for a shock like you wouldn't believe. The land was war ravaged and barren. It was even more desolate than we could have imagined. This was supposed to be the land of prosperity and peace, but the sight before us was horrid. There were bodies of soldiers as far as the eye could see.

"What happened here?" Asked Raiden.

"I don't know, but it was nothing good I can tell you that," I replied.

"So what do we do know?" Asked Julia.

"We press on to the next town that's what," I answered.

"Who could have done something this horrible?" asked Kit.

'_We know don't we brother,' said shadow using our mind link._

'_You mean the one from my dream, don't you Shadow?' I replied._

"Yep, that's the one I'm talking about," he said under his breath.

"O.k. guys let's keep moving, and hopefully we can find the capitol city, and the beacon." We had little trouble getting to the capitol city, but the banner of the Dark Nation Umbra flew atop the sanctuary. It didn't take us long to meet the local guard either.

"You there, peasant, you and your companions are new here so I must tell you that you must pay tax to pass through this city," he said greedily.

"I'm sorry, but we have no money to pay you this tax," I responded coolly.

"Then you may pay with your cloaks and weapons, all of you," he said in a more demanding tone. Then he grabbed for my sword and I smoothly moved to one side and let him land on his face. Then his friends came to his aid and the others took fighting stances. Julia looked as if she itching for a fight. They all did.

"No, I'll handle this alone for now, if I need you I'll let you know," I told them and they backed off. Then the fight began, guards lunged at me with swords drawn but never stood a chance against my speed. The fight didn't take long and wasn't very entertaining, but oh well. Then came the fun part, lighting the beacon while fending off guards. The overall time spent was less than expected, but I won't complain. Then after that the guards realized who we were and decided that it would be a good idea to escort us to the capitol of Umbra to meet their queen: Ebony. We decided to go along just to light the last beacon. We're so close to the end, but soon it will all be over and we will have failed.

When we arrived at the castle we got a royal welcome and spent the rest of the day in town looking around at the shops. We pretended to be interested in this place when all we were really interested in was getting home. Then, as we were leaving a shop, one of the locals ran into me. As he did, he slid something into my pocket and said lightly into my ear: "Help us." I knew, then, that there was a resistance and I had to get rid of whatever was in my pocket. That night after dinner I slid it into Mina's pocket and hoped for the best. I woke up early the next mourning to find that the others had gone to the northern tower with Ebony to light the beacon. I woke up Shadow and fused with him, knowing that it was time. I ran up the tower stairs just like in my dream. Everything played out just like the vision. Right down to where I kill the others. I just watched as they all fell out of the pane-less windows. Then, the last thing that I remember saying is: "That's it, it's over. They're all gone." Then, nothing…………


	9. Chapter 9: Home at Last

CH 8: HOME AT LAST

It's been two years since that day in the tower when I ended the lives of those I once held dear. Since that day I have lived a very lavish life. I am the queen's captain of the guard. This job is pretty routine, but I do find enjoyment in torturing the prisoners. Today, however, was different. I felt something that just wasn't right. I didn't know what it was, but nonetheless it was there. Since I couldn't sleep, I made my rounds earlier then usual, throwing some of the men off balance. This also made me harder to keep up with, which is something the queen already has a hard time with.

"Tell me servant have you seen Lord Shadow?" she asked in a rather annoyed tone.

"No, madam, I have not seen the lord this morning," he replied in a low tone.

In over hearing them talking, I used my powers to enter the room without being noticed.

"I hear that you are looking for me my lady," I said startling both her and the servant.

"Shadow, you know I don't like it when you do that," she said even more annoyed than before.

"Forgive me my lady, but I couldn't resist a chance to scare you," I said with a light laugh.

"You've changed your routine, that means that something is not right in my kingdom. What troubles you my lord?" She asked.

"I don't know, but it could be a massive rebel attack," I replied with great concern.

"Should I fortify the castle, alert the guard, Lord Shadow what should I do?" She asked with an anxious look in her eye. I saw something white swoop past the window out of the corner of my eye, but chose to ignore it.

"Leave every thing to me, my lady, I can handle this on my own. Servant, alert my elite riders and have them await me at the gate," I said and left to make ready for this monumental fight… but still something in the air is different, I haven't felt this since… no it couldn't be, I finished them off a long time ago. This will be just like any other fight. Or so I thought……….

It was pouring rain and visibility was at a minimum. The battle had been going on for several hours now and no end was in sight. I was having no trouble devastating several platoons of rebel men at a time with my powers. Then, out of nowhere I was hit with a blast of flame.

"So did you miss me you demonic son of a bitch!" I heard an all too familiar voice yell.

"No, it can't be… Mina! But I watched you die! I saw you fall from the window…" I said and was cut short.

"Yes you saw me fall but you didn't see me land, and by the way, I'm not alone. You have several friends with a rather large problem," she said coldly.

"And what's that?" I asked stupidly.

"The problem is that you're alive," she said with a laugh.

And right about now the first thing I notice is this hot sensation on my face. I reach up and realize I'm crying. The second thing is that the others are alive and really don't like me right now. OH SHIT! Then, the attacks start. First comes Raiden with a Gia spike storm. I've got sharp rocks coming at me from all directions. Easy enough to dodge with a shadow dive, but I come up into a blizzard assault from Julia. I end up frozen solid and unable to move. "Where are your manners, Lord Shadow?" Julia asked sarcastically, fury evident in her blue eyes. "Aren't you going to welcome us back?" She flew up towards the sky and I found myself wondering what she was doing, when I realized that she had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation Ebony and I had.

Then comes Mina's dragon fire blast, which needless to say left several marks. It was starting to hail now and it finally struck me what Julia did: she froze all the rain. I could feel the ice leaving cuts on my skin and it made visibility even worse. At this point I had to run just to survive, so that's what I did. I ran as fast as I could to the castle. The one place I thought that I was safe… then, things started to change, I could feel Riku fighting to get back to the surface. I tried to suppress him, but he was getting stronger by the second. I could feel his consciousness returning. I stumbled through the castle trying to find a safe place. I found myself in the ceremony room, when Mina and the others burst in and Riku made a desperate cry for help.

"Riku, is that you?' She said in shock. Both (Shadow and Riku) of us noticed that she was the only one in shock. Julia had to be restrained by both Raiden and Aveon, who were only holding her tight enough so she couldn't escape. All three of them looked livid.

"M-Mina h-help me, I cant get free, p-please help," I stuttered trying my best to fight off Shadow's suppression.

"Why the hell would we help you, you bastard?" Shouted Julia. "You tried to kill us! Some of us barely made it because of you, but I bet you were aiming towards that in the first place. Mina and Aveon were the only ones that didn't get hurt critically. Raiden here, was bleeding so bad you probably could have filled a pond with the blood he shed, but that's only what I heard. Luckily Mina had some knowledge in healing, but she couldn't do anything about me! For two months, I couldn't speak, move, anything! That's right, I was in a coma!" I looked on in shock, no wonder she was trying so hard to escape Raiden and Aveon's grasp; she really wanted to kill me. "You wanna know what hurt the most? Being unable to answer my fiancée's pleas for me to wake up. We were going to tell you that we were engaged when we lit the last beacon, but you kinda tried to kill us!" The whole time she said all this, tears were streaming down her cheeks and that gave me the motive to fight even harder against Shadow's hold over me.

We went back and forth from one personality to another, fighting for control, each time expending even more energy. Before Shadow tried to end it by using a chaos blast attack to fill the room with dark energy and black me out but as he was powering up Mina did something I never expected. She kissed me, I mean she actually kissed me and the flow of power through my body went back to normal. Then, when I looked around I realized that this was a beacon room and that Julia was shouting again (big surprise there): "Why the hell did you kiss him?" This meant that with everyone now present that… oh shit, the beacon is going to go off. And it did, but when I came to I was in a stark white room in a white bed with white sheets. Ok, what's with all the white, damn it.

"Ah, so you have awakened keeper of the light. I am Veritas, Advent of justice and truth welcome to the Sol Sanctum, my home," he said " These are my brothers and sisters, Chrono of time, Omega of chaos, and Serenity of peace, and our master Envoy of creation," he said, pointing to them in turn.

" So what happened? Is everyone all right? Did I do anything that I might regret?" I said looking anxiously around for the others.

"Don't worry, we're all fine Riku, you got control back before the beacon went off. No one got hurt, and you and Shadow have separated again. He is being detained for the moment until the effects of Ebony's spell wears off," said Mina who was sitting next to my bed for what I was told to be four days before I regained consciousness. When I was finally allowed to get up and move around I found the others either relaxing by a spring or sparing in the courtyard. Then I saw something that I still believe to be impossible, but oh well. There he was, standing in the courtyard watching Julia and Aveon spar, Kaine.

"Kaine, but how i thought that... but you...and i and the... How in the hell did you come back from the dead?" I said extremely confused.

" We brought him back, young keeper. You needed him to complete the beacon ceremony even if he was not there his power could be transferred to the sight of the activation long enough to complete the energy circuit." said Omega.

"That, and it would look kinda weird if he was missing from our world, don't you think?" Julia added, coming up to us and wiping sweat from her brow.

"Speaking of the beacons, I thought that when we lit them all we would end up back home," I said, a little curious.

"You will return home, but you still your job is far from done. There are three new elements in your world. Nature, metal, and water, elements thought to be hidden from this world by the first keepers. They have been awakened some where in your world. We need you to find the others and bring them here. We can then go from there," Said Chrono, while Kaine caught up with the others.

"So, we will get to go home, just not for very long, right?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"You will be allowed back to your world long enough to find the three new keepers, then you will return to the sanctum and help to train them, and once you are all ready then we will bring an end to Ebony and her demented ideals," said Veritas as the others got ready to go, but a commotion broke out between the happy couple, Julia and Aveon.

"You want to call the engagement off?" Julia cried.

"Yes, I do," said Aveon calmly. Julia looked devastated.

"Did you even love me at all?" She whispered, but it carried around the courtyard anyway.

"I don't think I ever loved you," Aveon said coldly. "By the way, you're a great kisser." He then stalked away.

"What are you all staring at?" She shouted as we all gawked; we all thought they were totally in love. "Come on, start packing, we don't have all day!" We did what she told us to do, not wanting her release her wrath on us.

Once ready to leave, we were told that time moves differently between our worlds and that little time would have passed since we left our world. Then Chrono gave us each a pendant that would allow us to contact them and each other. Then I was given the three new keepers pendants. They would light up when I was near their owners. Then came the real fun, Omega gave us the weapons that our predecessors used.

I got the dual fang of light Lumos and the dual fang of darkness Umbra, Mina got the claws of Bolmeteus: a set of katanas that amplify her flames, Julia got the bow of Eien Kori that allowed her to fire an unlimited amount of ice arrows, Raiden got the Grandmarg halberd, a giant sword capable of cleaving even the hardest stone, Kaine got the talon of Quezatcoatle, a spear that amplifies thunder attacks ten fold, then Aveon got the staff of Atmos which will allow him to create hurricane force winds. Then, without another word Chrono just opened an inter-dimensional gate and next thing we knew we were back in the woods near my house. (Aveon went back to where he lived.)

"So, we're finally home. Well, what now?" I asked kinda dumbly.


	10. Chapter 10: Home Again

CH 9 Home Again 

"So we're finally home. Well, what now?" I asked having no idea what to do next.

"I guess we should head back to your house and figure it out from there," said Mina.

"I don't think that, that would be a bad idea Riku. Your appearance hasn't changed at all. That might shock your parents," said Chrono out of nowhere.

"Oh, Chrono, is that you? So that's what the pendants are for besides communication between us, but are they good for anything else?" I asked kinda tweaked that I hadn't changed back to normal.

"Yes, and if you concentrate your powers through the pendants then you can go back to looking human, but the hair color and animal like senses will stay the same, and yes Riku that means that Shadow stays too," she said almost mockingly.

"That's just what I wanted to hear, Chrono, thanks a lot," I said even more tweaked then before.

"Now, I'll leave you to your mission. And remember that the three new pendants I gave you will only glow in the presence of its new owner. Now, good luck and be careful, Ebony's minions can now also pass between the worlds as well," she said as her voice faded. (Chrono is a girl, in case there was some confusion, I didn't know that either.)

"Wait! How will we tell what Ebony's forces look like? Blast it all, she's gone. Well, let's go ahead and see what we can do about our appearances and let's get something to eat," I said heading back to the house.

"Riku, wait, don't we need to change the way we look before we go back to your house so our parents don't find out," said Raiden as the others began to follow me.

"Look Beasley, my parents are going to find out what's up eventually, so first off, calm down and stop calling me Riku, you dolt, its R.J., and another thing, don't try to hide this from your parents it won't work. Just come clean and show them your true form. If they don't accept you after that, then come stay with me, but until then get over it," I said, almost knocking over a tree.

"What's wrong with you all of a sudden?" Asked Rachel, speaking for the first time in the past couple of hours.

"Sorry, I'm just not used to having all of my emotions back, and I'm honestly thinking of just letting Shadow out and having him come to school with us. Let's just get back to the house and get something to eat. Then we'll talk about this after I calm down," I said as I walked up the trail to the house. After lunch we talked about what we were going to do about school and everything that was to come. We decided to split the new pendants between Joy, Rachel, and I. Now, the only thing left was to explain our new appearances to our parents. Mom and R.V. were fine with my change and were happy that I finally had a brother. They were also fine with putting him through school. The others had to spend the night again because of the snow- storm. I woke up the next morning with Chris pulling a scene from Fruits Basket that involved Ayame and Kyo (Volume #4, Ayame clung to Kyo in his sleep and Kyo flipped out when he woke up). When I finally woke up enough to realize what was going on, I blasted Chris through the door into the hall near my room and almost killed him. Rachel ran into the hall, clearly haven't slept at all.

"What's going on?" She asked, quite alarmed.

"God damn it Rika! Will you cut that out?" Chris yelled.

"What did you call me, you son of a bitch?" I yelled back conjuring my weapon and pointing it at his throat. At this point those who were watching burst out laughing.

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to Rika. I should have told you about her sooner. The advent put her in my head to keep me under control. Sorry, I forgot about her. She was being so quiet until she saw you, then she went ballistic about how cute you were. Normally I can keep her under control, but every now and then she gets control and I can't do a thing about it. Next time you will know the difference, I'm sure," he said, trying not to cry because I hit him square in the gut.

"How can I tell the difference when she's in your head?" I asked, wondering if this would be anything I wanted to hear.

"When she takes over I change sex and appearance, so believe me you'll know when it happens. But Rika promise me not at school." He said in an almost scared tone. Rachel and Joy had fallen to floor tears falling from laughing so hard.

"Fine, I promise," said Chris in a female voice that caused the laughter to get even more pronounced.

"So that's what she sounds like. I'll have to remember that in the future," I said in a mocking tone. Then we all got up and got breakfast. Then we started our mental training for school so as not to lose control and break form in front of classmates. Rachel (Julia) had no problem being the keeper of ice; she always has a cool head unless I do something stupid (actually it was mainly Shadow she couldn't stand). I had no problem either because Shadow has all my dark emotions. Mina and Shadow have the hardest time keeping their emotions in check, but we have worked on the anger management with them to the point that they can remain in their normal forms most of the time, but Shadow's attitude may get him into some trouble at school. Other than that, everything is going well. Everybody has informed they're parents about the transformation and they have all accepted what's happened. So things were going great until the storm let up and we went back to our normal lives. Christmas came and went. With it being Shadow's first Christmas we got him a lot of new stuff and thankfully he and I can share a lot of things since we can share the same body. Then, school started and things got interesting. We didn't really have any problems until we started getting comments about our hair and clothes. Even the teachers got on us (much to everyone's dislike; Rachel was ready to behead them) and we didn't break the dress code once. But oh well, Shadow only got in one fight and he was lucky that someone else started it because he was brutal. He basically played with them until he got bored. Then, it was one good punch to the gut and a kick to the head and they were out, but enough about the stupid stuff. Later on that week we all had quite the experience after we got home from school. We were all attacked by what looked like NeoShadow Heartless (Kingdom Hearts, they're little shadow midgets! ). And the fun part was that there were about fifty of the stupid little things. Shadow and I had a great time and actually made a contest out of it (Can you say Legolas/ Gimli rivalry? Or what?). I won, as always. The next day we asked Veritas about this and he called these little demons Shadow Haunt (Rachel liked to call them Nithlings; can anyone tell me what book that's from nithlings? Whoever gets it right gets…. nothing really). The next day was even more eventful. Josh got back from Balfour early and what's more is that he is the keeper of steel, Xion. The moment he walked in the room, the pendant lit up like a roman candle. Then, when Joy was talking to Krystal we saw that the other pendant lit up. All that was left to find was the keeper of water. Luckily, I got a phone call from a giddy Rachel (she's normally depressed at the moment) saying that she found the last keeper, Lizzie. So now we had water, nature, and steel. The only thing left to do was get back to Sol Sanctum and then Animos. This was probably the most unforgettable experience of my life. We had Josh, Krystal, and Lizzie come over to my place and explained every thing. Then, it was finally time head back. We had Veritas explain the new ceremony to us and we were on our way. What lies ahead for us? Well, you'll see.


	11. Chapter 11: Back to Animos

CHAPTER 10

"Waaaaaaaaaa!" THUNK! "Damn it! What the hell just happened?" Asked Josh, (Xion) still in pain from landing on his butt.

"That's what happens when we travel between. Get used to it; we're gonna be doing it a lot from now on," I said kinda snottily having struck my landing, but barely.

"So is everybody here?" Asked Julia, as we began to head out of the cave.

"Yeah it looks like we're all here," said Mina once we were out in the open.

"Alright then, let's head on to the village and find out what's been going on since we left," I said, and we headed for the village. When we arrived we learned that it had been ten years since we left. Kraden had passed away and Kit had taken his place as shaman of the village. There was no news of Ebony, but we knew that she was out there somewhere. But since it was our first night back in Animos we decided that we should relax, and boy did these people know how to throw a party. There was a banquet in our honor and it was awesome!

Shadow and I were getting ready when there was a knock on our door. Turns out it was Julia, which was odd enough in itself. She told Shadow to get out and it was only when he left that I noticed she had a suit in her hands.

"What do you want?" I asked, eying the suit nervously.

"I'm gonna do you up proper," she said.

"Why the sudden act of kindness?" I questioned, she normally put on a cold front.

"Just because I'm ice and have control of my emotions does not mean I can't act like I normally do," Julia said, a certain exasperation in her voice. "Now put this on. I don't want to see the atrocity of whatever you were going to wear tonight."

I did what she told me and I have to say that I didn't look too shabby, even Julia agreed, but what shocked me the most was what she said as she was leaving the room: "By the way, you better get over your fear of dancing because you're going to dance with Mina at least once tonight." Then, she left with a light smile on her face. Shadow came into the room and whistled (not like for a good looking person, more like a surprised whistle).

"She dressed you up nice," Shadow said, "too bad she hates me."

"Well, you better get ready if you want to be on time," I said leaving the room and waiting outside for him to change. Finally, he came out and we went to the banquet hall together. We searched the hall for the others and saw Julia, Mina, Kit, Raiden, Ivy, Aqua, Xion, and Aveon talking and laughing. The girls looked incredible! Mina was wearing a red dancing dress with thin straps that hugged all her curves. Kit was wearing a similar to Mina's dress only a little longer and black. And Julia was wearing a more formal dress that went to the floor; it had only one strap and was black and fitted her curves, she was also wearing an arm bracelet on her upper arm. All the girls had elegant up-do's (and were attracting a lot of attention from other guys; I'm not gonna go into detail about Ivy's and Aqua's dresses). Shadow and I walked up to the group and greeted them.

"So Riku," smirked Julia, "think I did a good job?"

"All right, yes, you did," I admitted.

"Did a good job on what?" Asked Mina.

"I fixed him up for you," winked Julia. "I don't know about you guys, but I feel like dancing! Come on Xion, dance with me!"

"What? NO! I don't do dancing!" Xion flat out refused.

Julia pulled on his arm. "Well, you do now, come on! Oh, and Riku, get a move on and ask Mina to dance," said Julia and then with one last tug led Xion onto the dance floor.

I nervously cleared my throat. "Ummm… Mina?" She looked at me to signal that I had her attention. "Uhhh… will you dance with me?"

"Sure," replied Mina. I couldn't believe it. My luck was actually working with me tonight! I made a mental note to try and not do anything to mess this up and to thank Julia later. I had a great time dancing with Mina, but eventually we had to take a break. We went to sit with the other guys and later on Julia and Xion joined us, Julia laughing the entire way to the table.

"You are a horrible dancer," giggled Julia, "but I had fun anyway, thank you." Josh (Xion) merely grumbled and muttered a 'Your welcome.' "So… you guys having fun?"

There was a chorus of 'Yes!' from most of the table. Right now what we needed was food and so we went to the buffet (I luv buffets! ) and all got our share of food. We ate our fill and decided to go to the dance floor again. This time I was Aqua, Raiden was with Kit, Mina was with some random dude, Ivy was with Shadow, and Julia was with Aveon, which I thought was a bad idea considering the last time they saw each other. It turns out they actually enjoyed dancing together; they were laughing and talking as if they were still a couple. The shocker of the night, for our group at least, was when we all had to witness a passionate make-out session between Julia and Aveon. This confused us because we all thought they had broken up, but here they were snogging in front of everyone. Julia told everyone later that they had never really broken up, but merely pulled a prank on everyone, to see if they could actually pull it off. I have to admit, it was pretty convincing. Eventually, the night had to end, much to everyone's disappointment, but at least we could cherish the memories we were gifted with tonight. We all went to bed well fed, happy, and content.

The next day we had to start the new guys' training, which was only bad for Xion who unfortunately looked like Shippo (fox demon from Inu Yasha) and kept getting called a squirrel (his least favorite animal). The others however weren't as bad. Lizzie (Aqua) had turned into a tiger; her clothes that were similar to Julia's and Mina's were form fitting and had the symbol of water on the back. Krystal (Ivy) had turned into a monkey; her clothes were basically like Julia's outfit and the symbol of nature was on the back. For some reason my clothes had changed as well, it was nothing too drastic, but my outfit was a little more form fitting and made of a different material (basically it's not a kimono anymore; not going into detail kuz I don't know what the author wants). The next day we started basic training with Aqua, and Ivy, but we couldn't find Xion but that didn't matter at the moment. He already had a handle on his powers. It was fun trying to help Aqua and Ivy get control of their abilities both elemental and physical. One day, I took Julia aside to talk to her.

"I just wanna say thank you for what you did at the banquet," I said.

"No prob, just being good friend. I understand that I haven't been the best friend in the past, but I would like to remedy that. So… can you forgive me for all the times I was unnecessarily harsh to you?"

"Of course," I replied, "sometimes you can't help but be that way; it happens to the best of people."

Julia smiled and then we both heard a loud crash and we both grimaced. "Thanks for that. Think we should get back to them before they destroy the village?"

"Hell yeah!" (Do not pair up Julia and Riku; it will never happen; Riku likes Mina and Mina only . , k? good! )

It took about six months total to train the three of them before we decided to head out to find and learn from the other shaman. Plus, according to Chrono we also have to find the three new beacons. When we finally left we decided to go the same route as the first time. Heading through Pyron and then on to Atmos and so forth. Once in Pyron we stayed to let Aqua and the others get to know the people and to have a little fun. Shadow and I went out into the countryside to train as we had been doing a lot of lately. Julia and Mina did their usual shopping for supplies and then they spent the rest of the day at the inn relaxing in the open-air baths. We decided after about a week of stocking up and reconnaissance on the route to Atmos to head out. We had also learned of a tribe of traders that had set up camp at the south end of the Atmos Peninsula. That would be our first stop on the way to Atmos. It didn't take us long to get there. The roads that are most traveled by the Shadow guard are only the common way to your destination. We have learned of plenty of back roads to take. Once at the docks of Port Town we found a small fishing boat to take us to the trade island of South Point. To our surprise the beacon of water was on the island and thankfully the tribe had a water shaman. The bad news was that Aqua's training would take about three months. This put a damper on our plans to get done within two years, but oh well. At the capital city of Atmos it took us less than a day to find the shaman and less then two weeks to get Aveon trained. So we were almost back on schedule. Our next stop would be Tundria, then Thundria, but what awaits us ahead? Shadow and I know.


End file.
